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Ukraine and Russia Trade Spying Charges

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine has detained a Russian intelligence officer and expelled four others, breaking up what it said Tuesday was a spy ring that intended to steal military and state secrets.

The announcement came less than a week before a presidential runoff election in Ukraine and might stir new tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which have had a contentious relationship in recent years.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the Ukrainian intelligence chief, said the Russians were detained on Jan. 27 “trying to illegally obtain Ukrainian secrets through blackmail and threats.”

The Ukrainian president, Viktor A. Yushchenko, has repeatedly quarreled with the Kremlin. He lost his bid for another term in an election last month. The two candidates vying in the presidential runoff on Sunday — Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko and the opposition leader, Viktor F. Yanukovich — have promised to improve relations with Moscow.

Espionage cases are often handled without publicity through diplomatic channels, so the Ukrainian disclosure of this one suggested that Mr. Yushchenko’s government wanted to focus attention on Russian activities on Ukrainian soil.

The Ukrainian announcement brought an unusual public rebuke from the Russian intelligence agency, the F.S.B., which expressed surprise that its Ukrainian counterpart, the S.B.U., had not sought to resolve the case “through cooperation between special services,” Russian news agencies reported.

The F.S.B. rarely discusses spying matters openly, but it said in a statement that it had acted to defend itself because of spying by Ukraine.

The Russian agency said that in October, it arrested a Ukrainian intelligence agent at a Russian military site in a separatist region of Moldova, another former Soviet republic. He was carrying a digital camera and scans of documents marked “top secret.”

The man then apparently agreed to work as a double agent and help the Russians learn about Ukrainian spying against Russia, Russian officials said. He was scheduled to meet the Russian agents in the Odessa region of Ukraine to hand over information when they were arrested, the officials said.

A version of this article appears in print on February 3, 2010, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Ukraine and Russia Trade Spying Charges. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe